Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced early on Sunday that the entire region of Lombardy and a number of provinces in other regions were put under lockdown as the coronavirus continued to spread throughout the country.
The new measures will apply to about a quarter of the Italian population and will be in force at least until April 3.
In the middle of the night, Conte signed a decree that imposes new restrictions to the movement of people in the region of Lombardy and in a number of northern provinces.
The entry and exit to and from these areas will be allowed only in exceptional cases.
Italy on Saturday saw its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the outbreak broke out in the north of the country on February 21.
In its daily update, Italy's civil protection agency said the number of people with the coronavirus rose by 1,247 in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 5,883. Another 36 people also died as a result of the virus, taking the total to 233.
The coronavirus tightened its grip on day-to-day life around the world on Saturday as ports in several countries turned back ships with infected passengers, Iran declared a "sacred jihad" against the virus and the Vatican announced it would livestream the pope's weekly blessing.
Around the world, more and more countries were bracing for a big increase in virus cases. Western countries have been increasingly imitating China – where the virus first emerged late last year, and which has suffered the vast majority of infections — by imposing travel controls and shutting down public events.
Italy cancels Carnival
After the city of Venice cancelled its cherished Carnival and governments warned citizens against travel to Italy, the epicentre of Europe's outbreak, the country is facing a possible recession. Hotel occupancy rates in the lagoon city are down to 1%-2%.
"The surface of the Grand Canal is like glass because the boats that transport merchandise are not there. On the vaporetti (water buses), there are only five or six people,’’ Stefania Stea, vice president of the Venice hoteliers association, said.
The Vatican decided to livestream the pope's Sunday blessing to prevent people gathering at St. Peter's Square.
Iran reports further jump in deaths
Iran said 194 people had died from coronavirus and 6,566 were now infected, in a TV announcement by the Health Ministry on Sunday.
Iran has one of the highest number of deaths from the illness outside of China, where the virus originated. Iranians were warned by ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur to avoid all large gatherings and stay home.
"There have been 743 people who have been added to the total of those infected by Covid-19 through lab test results," he said. "In the past 24 hours, we have had 49 people who have died from this illness so we have at least 194 deaths until now."
IranAir has suspended until further notice all flights to European destinations, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday, citing a statement from the Civil Aviation Organization.
Iran is the epicentre of the outbreak in the Middle East as most of the cases reported in the region are either people who were in Iran or who caught the virus from people who had visited the Islamic Republic.
Washington, DC, has first 'presumptive positive' test
A person in Washington, DC, has had a "presumptive positive test" for the coronavirus, Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Twitter on Saturday.
In a news conference later on Saturday, Bowser said the affected person is a male in their fifties who is a resident of the District. The man began exhibiting conditions in late February although he appears to have no record of international travel or close contact with persons known to have the virus, said Bowser. The man remains hospitalised.
"With his test yielding a presumptive positive DC health has begun investigating in keeping with the CDC's guidelines," Bowser said.
Cruise ship hit by virus to dock in Oakland, California
A cruise ship hit by the new coronavirus is headed to the port of Oakland, California, the captain told passengers, though they were destined to stay aboard the ship for at least another day.
Grand Princess Capt. John Smith, in a recording provided by passenger Laurie Miller of San Jose, told guests the ship will dock in Oakland. Princess Cruises says it's expected to arrive on Monday. The ship is carrying more than 3,500 people from 54 countries.
"An agreement has been reached to bring our ship into the port of Oakland," he told passengers Saturday night.
"After docking, we will then begin a disembarkation process specified by federal authorities that will take several days."
Smith said passengers who need medical treatment or hospitalisation will go to health care facilities in California, while state residents who don’t require acute medical care "will go to a federally operated isolation facility within California for testing and isolation."
US guests from other states will be transported by the federal government to facilities in other states. Crew members will be quarantined and treated aboard the ship.
Smith said the information he was given did not include any details about what would happen to passengers from other countries.
“We are working to obtain more details overnight. ... I’m sorry I can’t provide you more details right now,” he said.
The Grand Princess had been forbidden to dock in San Francisco amid evidence that the vessel was the breeding ground for a cluster of nearly 20 cases that resulted in at least one death after a previous voyage.
Meanwhile, the US death toll from the virus climbed to 19, with all but three victims in Washington state. The number of infections swelled to more than 400, scattered across the US, as passengers aboard the ship holed up in their rooms.
In Egypt, a cruise ship on the Nile with more than 150 aboard was under quarantine in the southern city of Luxor after 12 positive tests.
Costa Fortuna cruise ship heads to Singapore
Also Saturday, the port of Penang in Malaysia turned away the cruise ship Costa Fortuna because 64 of the 2,000 aboard are from Italy. The ship had already been rejected by Thailand, and is now heading to Singapore.
And in Malta, which reported its first case of the virus Saturday, the MSC Opera ship agreed not to enter the Mediterranean country’s port amid local worries — even though there are no infections suspected on board. The ship continued to Messina, Sicily, where passengers were allowed to disembark after officials reviewed medical records.
Transmission of the virus is now going in every direction.
While the global death toll has risen past 3,400, more people have now recovered from the virus than are sickened by it. As of Saturday, nearly 90,000 cases have been reported in Asia; more than 8,000 in Europe; 6,000 in the Mideast; about 450 in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, and fewer than 50 cases reported so far in Africa.
While many scientists say the world is clearly in the grips of a pandemic — a serious global outbreak – the World Health Organization isn’t calling it that yet, saying the word might spook the world further.
The virus is still much less widespread than annual flu epidemics, which cause up to 5 million severe cases around the world and up to 650,000 deaths annually, according to the WHO.
Hardest-hit country outside China
South Korea, the hardest-hit country outside China, reported 448 new cases on Saturday, taking the total to 7,041, with 48 deaths overall.
China on Sunday morning reported 44 new cases over the past 24 hours, the lowest level since it began publishing nationwide figures on January 20, and 27 new fatalities.
But while infections were increasing more slowly, the country was struck anew by tragedy: A hotel used for medical observation of people who had contact with coronavirus patients collapsed on Saturday, trapping 70 people inside, according to local news reports.
Countries outside Asia stepped up efforts to control the outbreak.
Saudi Arabia banned spectators at any sports competitions starting on Saturday. The NBA and British sports teams are considering the same.
"I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd,” Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James said. "That’s who I play for."
Spain deployed police to enforce a quarantine. Austria confiscated 21,000 disposable masks that a Turkish company smuggled aboard a tour bus, seeking to profit from soaring demand. Turkish police, meanwhile, threatened legal action against social media accounts accused of spreading false virus information.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging older adults and people with severe medical conditions to "stay home as much as possible" and avoid crowds.
Most people who get the virus have mild cases, though the elderly face greater risks. Among the many new cases in Europe on Saturday was a doctor in Slovenia who was in contact with more than 100 people in a nursing home after a ski trip to neighbouring Italy.
Global markets were enjoying a weekend respite from market panic, but the world economy faced mounting damage. China, the world’s biggest trader, reported Saturday its exports tumbled 17.2 percent from a year earlier in January and February.
A total of 78 million migrant workers have since returned to work in China, and manufacturers are reopening. But they aren't expected to return to normal production until at least April, and most people in Wuhan still are barred from leaving their homes.
